As the AMBA & BGA Excellence Awards will soon be upon us, we’re profiling the MBA students and graduates who have made the shortlist of finalists.
Today we speak to Carla Mariana Chávez Castellanos a recent graduate of IESA Institute of Higher Studies of Administration in Venezuela.
Carla Chávez is a 26-year-old Venezuelan leader and social entrepreneur. She graduated in production engineering from Simon Bolivar University in 2016, completed her MBA at IESA Institute of Higher Studies of Administration in 2019, and is currently working in the Vice Presidency for Social and Sustainable Development of CAF, Development Bank of Latin America.
Carla is a young professional with five years of experience in both the corporate world and the social leadership and responsibility field. She is specialised in social entrepreneurship and the implementation of engineering and analytical skills for process design and performance improvements for both technical and social programs.
Sheis the Co- Founder and CEO of « Yo Mismo Soy » a social enterprise that promotes community self- management through informal training in the poorest areas of Caracas. She has also been volunteer in many social associations that work with the main social issues in Venezuela: hunger, sickness and violence.
Having this specific set of skills, Carla was selected by the US Department of State as an YLAI fellow, where she participated, at a very successful fellowship programme in Chicago, in an entrepreneurship incubator: Berwyn tech. During the fellowship, she was selected by the Board of World Chicago Association as the Latin-American representative to talk about the entrepreneurial experience in those countries.
Carla has been called to be a guest professor at the Northern Illinois University (NIU) to teach social entrepreneurship to graduate students at the Center for Social Entrepreneurs. Also, she has been a social entrepreneurship guest professor at the IESA (Instituto de Estudios Superiores en Administración) in Venezuela.
What qualities do you think defines the AMBA Student of the Year?
The AMBA Student of the Year should be a person who generates change, who is a positive leader for the world and whose personal story is an example of self-improvement based on continuous teamwork efforts to drive and lead actions that ultimately transform into success.
This person must have an holistic and global understanding of business, with special emphasis towards productivity, efficiency and sustainability, in addition to leadership and management skills of the financial, natural and human resources employed to carry out goals and attain objectives.
The AMBA Student of the Year should also promote and foster innovation and excellence by increasingly strengthening both her/his business and academic profile, either within her/his regional setting or internationally.
In addition, this student must generate global support networks that encourage the interconnection of global knowledge and experiences that enables her/him to develop and improve herself/himself and nourish and expand her/his context and horizons within the best quality and moral standards.
If you were to win this award, how would that make a difference to you?
This award would be a terrific and unique motivation to continue with my personal and professional training, with the highest quality standards to achieve each of the projects and dreams that I have.
It would also allow me to promote my career as it would enable access to excellent training and networking opportunities, which would empower me to further develop as a professional and seize the opportunity to foster and support the development of my country and region.
Finally, it would be an honour for me to serve as an ambassador in Venezuela and Latin America for an organisation as prestigious as AMBA that would serve as motivation for other women and young people, who feel identified with my story of overcoming and are encouraged to strive to obtain a high-level academic training and specialised professional exposure.
